{The Best Of} Mentoring Monday

Hindsight can be a good thing, particularly when it gives us clarity or direction on how to approach things in the future. But at times it can also be a little painful, especially when you look back at a situation and think, “If only I’d known back then what I know now.”

How can we know in advance the lessons that only hindsight seems to teach us? I actually believe we can gain the kind of knowledge that sets us up to win, by accessing the wisdom of those who have walked the road before us. The Message version of the Bible tells us to: “Take the old prophets as your mentors. They put up with anything, went through everything, and never once quit, all the time honouring God.” (James 5:10)

Be a listener : “Listen now to my voice; I will give you counsel, and God will be with you… so Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he said.”(Exodus 18:19,24)

It’s one thing to listen but entirely different to heed the good advice we hear. To heed literally means to listen with a commitment to change. Moses not only listened to Jethro, but he applied his counsel to the situation and changed the way he managed those he was leading. It’s not about how many sermons we hear preached, or how many counseling sessions we go to; it’s what we do with what we hear that counts. To see the fruit of wisdom in our lives, we need to have the spirit of a listener.